TV REVIEW: How I Met Your Mother (Season 7)

It is now mid June. All of the mainstream series have ended their seasons, which means it is time to do a recap of the season. I’m going to post a series of season recaps starting today, about the series I’m following. What happened, what does this mean for future seasons, and how is the season compared to earlier seasons? That’s what I’ll be talking about, starting with How I Met Your Mother, one of the most well-known sitcoms since Friends.

What Happened?

The season starts with a teaser. Barney is about to get married, but the bride-to-be isn’t announced (yet). Barney still has a relationship with Nora, which makes Robin jealous. While flipping out, she is ordered to see a psychiatrist. You may know the court-appointed psychiatrist as Kumar (Kal Penn, from Harold & Kumar 1, 2 and 3). Robin stereotypically falls in love with him and after her mandatory visits, starts a relationship with the guy. Meanwhile, Barney breaks things off with Nora and expects Robin to do the same after she’d confessed her love for him, but she decides to make a safe bet and sticks with her psychiatrist-turned-boyfriend. Barney is heartbroken.

Meanwhile, Lily is still pregnant, Marshall decides to leave his job to follow his dream of being an environmental lawyer. Because of Lily’s pregnancy, they decide to move out to the suburb Queens after Lily’s grandparents leave her their house, because it would be a better environment for their baby to grow up in. They find it hard to adapt to the slower pace in which things take place in Queens, and wish to return to the inner city.

Ted is still being a pretentious prick.

While travelling to meet Lily and Marshall, Barney finds a new way to pick up chicks on the train to New York. He drags Ted along with him. Barney falls in love with a girl named Quinn, who turns out to be a stripper. After having a hard time adjusting to the fact that she’s a stripper, Barney finally makes a move and asks Quinn to move in with him.

Meanwhile, Ted is still being a pretentious prick.

Lily gives birth to her baby while Marshall is out drinking in Atlantic City with Barney, which makes for a hilarious episode of them both trying to get home in time whilst being hammered. They make it, and name their kid Marvin (after Marshall’s dad who had passed away in season 6) “Wait for it” (which is awesome) Eriksen, something (not surprisingly) Barney thought of in their quest to return home. Sometime later, Barney proposes to Quinn through an elaborate magic trick. Robin finds out she can’t get any kids, which is too much for Kevin and they decide to break up.

Ted finally decides he’s not going to wait any longer for ‘the one’ and decides to call one of his former girlfriends. As it turns out, this girl (Victoria) is having a wedding of her own one day later. Ted hypocritically breaks up their marriage (remember Stella from season four?) and drives off with her.

Flash forward to Barney’s wedding. The bride-to-be is announced. And because I’m a jerk, I’m not going to tell who it is. You might already know because you’ve already seen it. But for those of you who haven’t seen it already, you can either watch the entire season, or you could read up on the wikipedia page.

How is it Compared to Earlier Seasons?

Bluntly speaking, this season is better than the last two seasons. The producers have come to terms with the fact that they can’t keep stretching it for an eternity. There’s actually shit happening this season, with Barney getting married, Lily and Marshal having their long-awaited baby, Ted finally deciding he shouldn’t be waiting for the perfect woman until he’s dead…

There are some deep, character-building episodes, as well as some gag-episodes. There are, however, still episodes which seem only there to stretch the storyline. The writers started out knowing they have a contract for an eighth season, which means they can plan ahead. This is in contrast to the earliest seasons, when the series wasn’t as popular as it is right now. Those seasons where best, because every episode had some progression. This season had a lot more progression than last season though, with that bitch Zoe finally out of the way.

What does this Mean for Future Seasons?

I can’t see this series lasting for more than two series, meaning that either the eighth or ninth season will be its last. Barney getting married means no more unbelievable pick-up stories, sadly. In order for the writers to keep things interesting, they would have to move their focus to Ted and his inability to find his soul mate.

By the way, Ted driving off with Victoria? Not going to last very long, I guess. Victoria used to be an old girlfriend he reconnected with, but he stated at the start of season five that the mother of his kids where in his classroom. I think Ted would have noticed if one of his former girlfriends was in that very classroom. Victoria and Ted might hold out for five episodes or so, about the time when Ted’s whining kicks in and he decides she’s not the ‘one’ and he returns to being a pretentious prick. As you might have noticed, I’m not a big fan of Ted.

Concluding

Season 7. Not the best, but better than the Season 5 and 6. More progression. Not a lot of space left, this series is going to end soon or it will lose a lot of popularity.